ACTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1380, 5 March 1912, Page 5

ACTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL.

WAGES TO BE INCREASED. STATEMENT BY THE MAYOR. Auckland, March 4. Great interest is being taken in the general labourers' dispute. The City Council met to-night and decided -upon a general increase in wages to its labourers, amounting to .£4OOO a year. These inoreases, which commence in about fourteen days, will make the Auckland municipal workmon the best paid in the Dominion. . A conference of 33 representatives of local bodies and contractors and employers of general labour ■ met to-night, and in view of the action taken by the City Council, decided that it was unnecessary to hear a deputation from the Federation of Labour, i Tho schedule of wages proposed by the comic: 1 was considered, and it was decided to again consider it at a meeting of local bodies on Wednesday ■ evening. In his speech at the mass meeting of workers held at the ODera House on Sunday afternoon, Mr. W. Parry, vice-presi-dent of the New Zealand Federation of Labonr, referred to a report that an organiser had recently been through the King Country and hnd secured the promises of 800 farmers to come to Auckland in the event of industrial trouble. He challenged the Mayor _ (Mr. C. J. PaTr) to say he knew nothing of this. The matter was brought under the notice of the Mayor by a reporter. ■.■,;,•,!,, "There is not a word ,p df. truth in tho statement," Mr. Parr declared. "I am '■ afraid Mr. Parry must have been thinking of Brisbane, but Auckland is not Brisbane yetr I have no doubt we, shall have the assistance of the. fanners if we ask for it against the forces of disordor and anarchy, but up to the present I have neither asked for such help nor !• even thought about it. I have no doubt 1 "* the citizens of Auckland will be able to keep the peace in the event of trouble." Continuing, the Mayor''said the feeling throughout the community seemed to bo

that tho City Council and the local bodies •are taking quite the right stand. , "We are meeting our own men," said ■Mr. Parr, "with a rise of wages and alteration of hours in a perfectly reasonable way. If we satisfy them, where on earth is the necessity for any conference 1 with the Federation of Labour? What havo they got to do with it? If the Federation of Labom chooses to call a general strike because wo elect to deal direct with our men and offer them better conditions, the federation must take the responsibility for such a senseless proceeding."